COIMBATORE: Smuggled foreign brand cigarettes valued at Rs. 32.7 lakh were seized by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) personnel at the Coimbatore International Airport (CIA) here the other day. Six persons were carrying them under the pretext of personal baggage.
According to a release from the DRI’s Zonal Unit in Chennai, the major seizure of 3.4 lakh cigarette sticks was made based on specific intelligence that a gang was operating from Coimbatore that was involved in smuggling cigarettes, from Dubai and Sharjah, in large quantities by camouflaging it as personal baggage.
In the early hours of Sunday, the personnel intercepted the six passengers who came to Coimbatore airport by Air Arabia, from Sharjah. On checking the baggage the team found the heavy stock of cigarette cartons packed in an unsuspected manner.
The DRI team found that the smugglers who travelled in the guise of business and tourist passengers concealed the cigarettes in a mode that it escaped the eyes of the Customs officers at the airport. The smuggled cigarettes also did not have statutory symbols that should be displayed on the packs to indicate the ill-effects of smoking. Further inquires were made with the smugglers, according to the release.
